*Photograph: John Mangan
A 45 year old ‘family man’ has walked free from court after receiving a suspended sixteen month prison term for the possession of child pornography.
At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Francis Comerford imposed the suspended 16 month prison term on Liam Kelly of Clonadrum, Mullagh.
Judge Comerford said that one of the factors in imposing a suspended prison term is that Mr Kelly has already been punished for the offence.
Judge Comerford commented that there have already been quite properly major adverse consequences for Mr Kelly’s life for these offences.
The court was told that in May 2018 Spanish police intervened and met Mr Kelly after being alerted that he said online that he had a sexual interest in young girls and was going to ‘try’ a ten-year old girl while on holiday in Spain.
Judge Comerford said that “there is no evidence that the child in Spain on holidays was put at risk but talking in those terms is revolting”.
Counsel for Mr Kelly, Sophie Pigot BL (instructed by solicitor John Casey) told the court that since the case was reported, Mr Kelly has lost his job at the medical device manufacturing firm he worked at for eleven years.
Ms Pigot contended that punishment for Mr Kelly, even with a suspended sentence, “is huge”.
She said, “He has lost members of his family, friends, neighbours, and probably the trust of the entire community”.
Ms Pigot said that the consequences of Mr Kelly’s offending has had a “devastating on him and his family”.
Ms Pigot said that Mr Kelly can’t attend his children’s football matches or he can’t bring them to school.
Ms Pigot said that a report handed into court on Mr Kelly shows that his offending has negatively affected his family.
Ms Pigot said, “His wife was obviously disgusted and absolutely shocked and angry when she discovered his offending behaviour and that has affected their relationship”.
Ms Pigot said that the expert report concludes that Mr Kelly is at a low risk of re-offending and is remorseful.
She said that Mr Kelly “initially denied any sexual interest in children but during the course of the assessment he did admit a sexual preference for children and he does show a strong insight now”.
Ms Pigot added, “Mr Kelly indicated disgust at himself and he intends to work through therapy to address these factors”.
Ms Pigot said that the report does show that Mr Kelly “demonstrated insight into how harmful the production of child pornography is on the victims involved”.
Ms Pigot said that the images and quantity do come at the lower end of offending.
An Applied Physics and Electronics graduate, Mr Kelly pleaded guilty to the possession of three child pornography still images and one video at his West Clare home in May 2018 following an analysis of his phone.
Sgt Claire Haugh of Ennis Garda Station said the images included individual naked females, aged two to three, aged from three to four and aged five.
Sgt Haugh said a video showed a nine to ten year old girl “removing her underwear in a provocative manner”.
Sgt Haugh said that Mr Kelly had stated in a 2018 online chat that he was sexually interested in girls aged from eight to thirteen.
Sgt Haugh said that Mr Kelly told Gardaí that he was on such platforms “with a view to outing paedophiles”.
However, Judge Comerford dismissed this explanation by Mr Kelly as “untenable”.
Ms Pigot asked Judge Comerford to take into account Mr Kelly’s guilty plea, that he is a first time offender, hasn’t come to Garda notice since and has engaged in therapies aimed at addressing his past behaviour.
She said that Mr Kelly didn’t distribute the images and did not have them for financial gain.
Judge Comerford said that Mr Kelly’s engagement with third parties was an aggravating factor in the case.
Counsel for the State, Lorcan Connolly SC (instructed by State Solicitor, Aisling Casey) said that a Garda analysis of a laptop at Mr Kelly home didn’t yield any child-pornography images “but showed the user involved in various chatrooms that were indicative of a sexual interest in children”.
Mr Connolly said that in one online chat, there was evidence of 32 users online simultaneously and Mr Kelly had different private chats with people with various handles with a sexual interest in children.
Sgt Haugh agreed with Mr Connolly that the private chats Mr Kelly under his handle had were “indicative of sharing thoughts and views and encouraging an interest in paedophilia”.
Judge Comerford said that the process of rehabilitation is better served if an immediate custodial sentence is not imposed. Judge Comerford said a condition of the suspended sentence is that Mr Kelly continue to engage with the therapeutic services.
